Sunday, August 5, 2018

NCC withdraws membership from FNCCI

Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) has decided to withdraw its membership from the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FNCCI). NCC sent a membership withdrawal notice to FNCCI today, ending the five-decade long relationship between the two organisations.
Confirming the separation, president of the NCC Dr Rajesh Kazi Shrestha said that chamber has decided to withdraw membership from the FNCCI as it is expanding its own organisation in line with the new federal structure.
NCC is the founding institutional member of the apex body of the nepali private sector, FNCCI. The FNCCI is present across the country and has the largest network second to the government.
Both the private sector institutions separating and expanding their own network on their own has drawn mixed reaction. Some claim that having more nationwide network of private sector will streghten the private sector, whereas others claim that it will weaken the private sector. "Both the institutions will advocate and lobby for the private sector,” Shrestha said, adding that they can also jointly work in many issues.
NCC – established in 1952 – is the oldest private sector organisation and has more than 1,600 ordinary members and more than 8,000 registered firms, whereas FNCCI was established by the NCC as its founder associated member in 1965. Currently, FNCCI – the the umbrella organisation – has 105 district-and municipality-level chambers in 77 districts; 100 commodity and sectoral associations; 880 leading public and private sector undertakings, and 20 bi-national chambers.
The separation is – according to some private sector leaders – mainly due to ‘ego tussle’ of leaders of the two organisations. "We have been witnessing the ego tussel among some of the leaders of the two organisations since some time," said an industry captain, without wanting to be named. "The differences bubbling under the surface have been exposed as NCC formally withdrew its membership from the FNCCI yesterday," he said, adding that the annual general meeting of NCC in January had decided to transform NCC into a federation, raising the eyebrows of top guns in the FNCCI. "The FNCCI has sought clarification – from NCC asking why the federation should not scrap its membership – which has also flared the ego tussel," said another industry leader, seeking anonymity.